Anyone with PTSD

[Ed"Lova"]

Mike, Tony, & Ed I want to thank yall for your service from a brother in arms. Tony Im so with ya, shooting is very therapeutic and I love it. Unfortunately, my wife does not want me to have any firearms. Apparently I have "issues" lol & she is afraid for the general public if I were to be armed. Mike Im totally with ya especially with the weed, my problem is that down here peeps think they know and really dont have a clue as far a strains & what they have. Im sure you know sativas are not my friend & actually finding what I need is almost impossible. Once again thank you my family for everything, I appreciate everyone's input and will be using all the suggestions until I can find what works.

You not alone brotha alot of us have same problems you need anything hit me up.

[Brent Alvarez]

Brandon, I agree with Chris about the yoga. That will help tremendously. Also, agree with the weed and the more you can find a support group to talk with people the better. It sounds like you are taking the right steps, and yes the VA sucks balls. I wish I knew more ways to help but I'm not a doc either. Can always face book me or Private message me hear if you need to vent or talk

[Kevin Connor]

Brandon, understand what you are going through, hope you have all the support you need. If you are ever stuck or need anything, just ask, from a brother in arms from uk.

[Jason_C]

Jason, you are absolutely right about the VA. Another thing the gov likes to do to us is instead of going through the process of finding out whether we have PTSD or not, they simply diagnose us with a psychological designation called "Adjustment Disorder." When you claim adjustment disorder through the VA disability claims process, it rates you jack shit. The claims process for separating military members now is backed up 5 + months. Those of us who get out and need cash dont make enough on unemployment, and by activating the Post 9/11 GI Bill is a process also. Those of us who have families struggle the most because we dont just have ourselves to feed.

Brandon, I don't know what the circumstances of the event(s) that happened to you to really be able to give you better advice. I experienced some pretty hectic things in my 2 deployments to Afghanistan. On my first deployment, we encountered many direct engagements with the enemy. On the second, even more direct engagements and I was wounded as a result of one of the events. The best advice I can give you is you have to talk to people who understand. trade stories with other combat vets, I don't mean fobbits (Those who dwelt on the FOB the whole time never to leave the wire and experience combat) If you have suffered PTSD due to non combat related events ie car accident, near drowning, mugging etc etc... I dont have any advice to offer.

stay away from booze to drown feelings. Learn to understand when your body begins to experience the anger or anxiety you feel so you can prepare yourself for the storm that's coming. find out what the triggers are. take as much you time as you need. make sure your family, friends, significant other etc understand that sometimes shit happens to you that you cant really control and one of the worst things they can do is pester you or try to argue with you when you are having an episode. PTSD sucks, but it is possible to live with it and it will get better. most important thing for me was like i said earlier, share your story with people who have been in your shoes. join a vfw and talk with the old vietnam vets. those are some of the coolest mother fuckers alive.

[brent_littell]

I am a therapist. I specialize in PTSD, but in children and adolescents. First, you can't diagnose yourself. There are too many differential diagnosis that you don't know of. Second, Ptsd is highly treatable. There are multiply modalities that reduce symptoms. Third, if you no longer function properly in life, then medication may be better than no medication. Fourth, using drugs and alcohol worsens symptomology. Withdrawals from cannabis include insomnia and depression, the symptoms you are fighting. Fifth, if the VA won't help you then you can seek out a private therapist. Many will negotiate a sliding scale fee. Sixth, look for a "seeking safety" provider in ur area; they specifically work with people in your situation. Finally, if you feel suicidal or are having auditory hallcinations, then seek immediate medical help.

[Brandon Woolsey]

My PTSD is a result of a fratricide incident in Bosnia in 1998. I was part of the QRF, one of our duties was to check on all of our guards. As yall know remfs will fuk around any chance they get. The base we were on was an aviation mostly base. We were the only Combat arms company there. There were four of us "patrolling" checking on the guards. There were train tracks that ran through part of our base. We were in a wedge formation, I was on point in the center of the tracks. We got within bout 40 meters of one of the guards. He drew down I saw it immediately told my peeps get tha fuk down. They were along the sides of the tracks so they were lower than I was. Ya know how tracks are angled or built up on the sides to where the tracks are higher up than ground level. They were able to drop down. I was caught in the middle of the tracks on high ground. The dude locked and loaded was aiming at me and I vividly remember hearing the tink, tink, tink, of the trigger pull and no bang. From here I dont know what happened, the next memory that I have is having his weapon in my hands seeing the round jammed. When he locked and loaded the bolt pushed the round at an angle so that it didnt fully load. I know this does not compare to being in a firefight in any way. It makes me feel like a bitch, nothing even happened and it fuked me up. Turned out the dude had a brain tumor and shit and jus flipped out. So considering nothing really happened, I find it hard to talk to people because to me its embarrassing. I think I would be able to understand having PTSD if I had actually been shot or shot at but noooo.. Nothing. Now to make matters worse I decided that I was better a few months ago and stopped my meds. I started them back up a few days ago. Apparently Im not a dr and not qualified to make the decision to stop meds. Yeah, I know it was a fukin dumb move. The problems that I deal with are hyper-vigilance nightmares instant anger/rage panic attacks and paranoia in group settings(stores, restaurants, things like that). I was not diagnosed with PTSD until 2009 when the panic attacks started out of no where. I apologize to all of you that were in combat because I was not. I know what I went through is not remotely the same and that makes me feel guilty for even having these issues. I really have no idea what this post will make yall think of me but I wanted all of u combat dudes to know what happened because I dont want it to seem like I am making what happened to me equal in anyway to what yall have been through. I truly appreciate everyone's input on this thread.

[Tony "The Goods" Garcia]

Therein lies your problem brother. Something did happen, something pretty fucking terrifying. My worst flashbacks didn't come from missions, unloading my weapon, or seeing my brothers in arms torn apart. They come from an incident at Fort Bragg. It was a sniper attack while we were getting ready for pt in 1994. The sniper was a fellow soldier even. Hell Brandon, I never even had a weapon in my hand! I remember running for cover and trying to carry another wounded soldier. I didn't know where the sniper was located. I didn't know how many there were. It has caused me the worst problems ever since. Do not make your story less horrific than it was! There is no difference from a full on firefight than what happened to you. In our minds it's exactly the same, terrifying.

[Jason_C]

there is nothing to be ashamed of. I only made my comments about combat because I assumed combat is why you had PTSD and to seek advice from someone who has never experienced combat is counter intuitive unless they were military oriented psychiatrists/neurologists.

To be honest with you Brandon, your situation is probably worse than the stuff anyone can experience and here's why. You say you were on your base where you are expecting to experience some modicum of "safety." Then you had someone who is supposed to have your back attempt to put a round in the chamber and fire on you and your mates. You went from 0 to 1,000,000 mph in an instant. Combat vets can at least mentally attempt to prepare themselves for what is going to happen. We expected to get shot at and blown up plus we had faith in our MRAPs that we would survive any blasts or engagements. Even to the point where some of us actually wanted to get blown up. Like i said man, you were on base completely not expecting to one of your own draw on you. Thank God his weapon malfunctioned. Sounds like he either didnt care for his weapon enough or overfilled the magazine and had too much tension on the spring.

[brent_littell]

trauma does not have to be an incident where you were shot. Trauma is any incident wherein you thought you would die, you almost died, or you saw someone else die. your incident fits within the criteria.

[Clinton lawrence]

This is the most intense thread I've read in an long time I just want to thank you guys for going to war to protect the way of life I enjoy again thank you